Ventilation system for boarding machines



Oct. 21, 1952 1.. MACROW 2,614,335

VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR BOARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 24, 1949 2 SHEETS-'-SHEET 1 IN V EN TOR. Am

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Oct. 21, 1952 MACROW 2,614,336

VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR BOARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 24. 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 l (O l I L l I & v E -..1 Egon: N Ll. 8

IN V EN TOR. M

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 VENTILATION 'SYSTEMFOR BOARDING I I MACHINES Lawrence Macrow, *Glenside, iPa., :a'ssignor to Carrier Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y.,a-corporation of Delaware Application September Zl, 194-9, Serial'No. 117,649

Claims. .1

This invention relates 'toventilation systems for boarding machines and more particularly to a boarding machine vprovided with means for removing excess heat :quickly and .at a reasonable cost.

A boarding machine consists of .a :number of steam-heated forms on which the moist stockings are placed for a definite period of time to attain a .desired finish. During the drying process considerable latent heat is liberated and large quantities of sensible .heat radiates from the forms. Previously it has been attempted to create more satisfactory working conditions for the operators of the machines by the use of exhaust and ventilation systems. These attempts were not successful for comfortable conditions could not be produced when outdoor conditions reached summer maximums. Complete air conditicning of the boarding rooms results in extremely high refrigeration requirements when absorption of the total radiation load from the boarding machines is contemplated. When exhausting from the machines to remove the heat at its source excessive refrigeration requirements are also encountered because of the extremely high quantities of outside air required to be conditioned to satisfy the exhaust.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide .a ventilation system for boarding machines in which the greater portion of the air removed by the exhaust of each boarding machine is substantially untreated air. I

A further object .of the invention is to provide a boarding machine equipped with a ventilation system which permits the time requiredto obtain a desired finish to be decreased with little or no increase in cost.

A further object is to provide an air conditioning system for a boarding room which provides comfortable working conditions for the operators of the boarding machines and which permits latent and sensible heat to be removed from each machine at a low cost. Other objects of my invention will be readily perceived from the following description.

This invention relates to a boarding machine including in combination a plurality of heated forms for receiving stockings, a housing enclosing said forms on a plurality of sides, an exhaust system for removing air from the housing, and

a duct connected to the housing for supplying air to the housing and over the forms. Preferably, the boarding room in which the boarding machines are placed is provided with a spotcooling system which permits comfortable conditions to be maintained for the operators of the 2 boarding machines. About :of the air removed by the exhaust from each boarding machine is supplied to the housing enclosing the forms; the remaining 25% of the air removed from the housing may be taken from the area in which the machine is placed.

The attached drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a boarding room provided with the air conditioning system of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation "partially broken away of a boarding machine provided with the present invention;

Figure 3'is a view in front elevation of the boarding machine shown in Figure-2; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view of an outlet of the air conditioning system.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a boarding room 2 containing a plurality of boarding machines 3. Each boarding machine includes a base 4 enclosing the operating mechanism and the steam or water piping with which the unit is served. A plurality of forms 5 are mounted upon base 4.; such forms 5 being normally a vertical position. The forms 5 may be tipped forward in groups of three for stripping or singly for loading by means of a semi-automatic mechanism (not shown). Forms 5 are enclosed on three sides by a housing 6; the fourth side of the housing is open to the area in which the boarding machine is placed to permit the operator to load or strip the forms and to permit a minor portion of air to be drawn from the area by the machines exhaust. The rear side 1 of each boarding machine enclosure is formed by a duct 8., through which raw or heated air is supplied to the chamber formed by housing 6 through inlet 9. So forming the .rear side of each enclosure tends to insulate one machine from a machine placed rearward thereof. Inlet 8 is designed to direct the air .from duct 8 inward and upward over stockings on the forms 5. The chamber formed by housing 6 is connected tov a suitable exhaust duct It), the amount of air exhausted from the enclosure being regulated by means of damper H. It will be appreciated the forms 5 may be heated by means of hot water or steam.

The term substantially untreated air is used herein to denote filtered fresh air or filtered and heated. freshyair.

Duct 8 for supplying raw or untreated air to each boarding machine 3 is connected to a duct 62 which is connected in turn to a duct l3 in which exterior air is forced by means of fan I 4.

Preferably a heating coil I5 is placed in duct [3 to permit the raw air supplied to each boarding machine to be heated to a desired temperature.

Exhaust duct [0 is connected to duct IS in which is placed a fan i! adapted to exhaust a de sired quantity of air from each boarding machir in the boarding room.

In order to provide comfortable working conditions for the operators of the boarding machines, conditioned air may be supplied to predetermined spaces throughout the boarding room. The conditioned air is furnished from central station l8 which includes dampers it through which exterior air may be drawn into the central station, a filter 20, a cooling coil 2!, a heating coil 22, and a fan 23 to force conditioned air from central station It! through duct 24 to smaller ducts 25 disposed throughout the boarding room. The ducts 25 are provided with deflector vanes 28 (refer to Figure 4) placed at a slot 21 disposed adacent to the front of each boarding machine. An adjustable slide 28 is provided to vary the opening of slot 21. A perforated pan 29 is placed about the slot 2! to permit the conditioned air to be introduced at a low level just above the heads of the operators between the rows of machines. Perforated pan 29 permits the air to be diifused gently at low velocity towards the machine operator. Since each machine enclosure is exhausting a portion of its air from the room a definite pattern of conditioned air is developed from the conditioned air supply duct through the working zone of the operator and then into the hood to maintain comfortable working conditions in the area of the operators activity without requiring air conditioning of the complete boarding room.

If desired, some portion of the air conditioned by central station l8 may be return air taken from boarding room 2 through inlet 3!].

Cooling coil 2| may be a direct expansion coil serving as the evaporator of a refrigeration system including a compressor 3|, a condenser 32, and a receiver 33, connected to coil 2|; coil 2! being connected to the compressor 3| by suction line 34. This is the usual direct expansion refrigeration system and does not require extended description. Other suitable means may be employed for cooling air at central station Hi.

In operation the exhaust system withdraws approximately 480 C. F. M. from the upper part of each individual hood. The raw air supply blows approximately 360 C. F. M. of non-refrigerated air-although such air may be heated-through inlet 9 into the base of housing 6. The enclosure channels the stream of raw air upward in order to prevent its escape into the conditioned space. Approximately 120 C. F. M. is withdrawn from the boarding room by each machine. The conditioning system I8 supplies dehumidified and cooled air at a low level just above the heads of the operators of the machines. A specially designed diffusion outlet diffuses the air gently toward the operator thus creating a definite pattern of conditioned air through the working zone of the operator and then into the hood permitting comfortable working conditions to be provided without requiring treatment of the entire boarding room.

The present invention greatly reduces the cost of air conditioning for boarding rooms. In addition, it reduces the static electricity inherent in boarding operations and provides better control of the finish of the stockings treated.

An advantage of operation with the present system resides in the fact that the forms may be converted to hot water circulation instead of steam, which permits lower form temperatures providing improved handling of the hosiery. Operation with steam-heated forms imparts static electricity to the stocking, thus creating a difiicult handling problem. Prior to the present invention lower form temperatures were not prac tical because of the resulting slow-down in production. By forced air circulation around the forms, as provided by the present invention, the incoming air may be held at a fixed temperature (say F.) which provides the advantage of improving the drying rate to the extent that the form temperatures can be dropped by the use of hot water circulation (say F.) thus permitting the rate of production to be sustained by materially reducing the amount of static electricity generated.

The present invention greatly reduces the cost of treatment of a boarding room by collecting the maximum amount of heat at its source at each of the boarding machines permitting a minimum exhaust of expensively conditioned room air. A great improvement in finish is obtained. Factors involved in the rate of drying of the hosiery are ambient temperature, humidity and the velocity with which ambient air moves over the stocking. The present invention permits satisfactory control of such factors. If desired, suitable equipment may be provided for controlling the relative humidity of the raw or substantially untreated air which is delivered to the boarding machine enclosures.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood my invention is not limited thereto since it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a boarding machine, the combination of heated forms for receiving stockings, a housing enclosing said forms on a plurality of sides said housing being placed within a boarding room, an exhaust system for removing a predetermined quantity of air from the housing, a duct connected to the housing for supplying air to the housing and over the forms, one side of the housing being open to the boarding room, approximately three-fourths of the air exhausted from each boarding machine being supplied through the duct, the remainder of the exhausted air being-withdrawn from the boarding room in which the machine is placed.

2. An air conditioning syster. for a boarding room which comprises means i or treating er: .crior air, means for supplying the conditioned air to spaced zones in the boardin room, a plur'lity of boarding machines disposed in the board having heated forms therein, housings Slll ovum ing the heated forms, means for supplyi the housings in which the forms are placed. and means for exhausting air from the form housings. the air supplied to the form housings amountin to approximately three-fourths of the amount of air exhausted therefrom.

3. In a method of boarding hosiery. the s 1...: which consist in placing hosiery on forms an enclosure open on one side to the a osphere, supplying heated air to the enclosure, up 'ilying conditioned air to a zone immediately in. front of the enclosure and exhausting air from the enclosure, the exhausted air compiuc about threefourths of heated air supplied to the enclosure and about one-fourth of conditioned air supplied in front of the enclosure.

4. In a boarding machine adapted to be placed in a boarding room, the combination of heated forms for receiving stockings, a housing enclosing said forms on a plurality of sides, an exhaust system for removing air from the enclosure formed by said housing, said system being connected to the housing adjacent the top thereof, a duct connected to the housing for supplying air to the housing and over the forms, said duct being connected adjacent the bottom of the housing to direct the supplied air inward and upward over stockings on the forms, said duct forming a wall of the housing, the housing being open on one side to permit air from the boarding room to be drawn within the housing, said open side being opposite the side of the housing formed by the duct.

5. In a method of boarding hosiery, the steps which consist in placing hosiery on forms within an enclosure open on one side to the atmosphere,

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 706,327 Lawrence Aug. 5, 1902 1,738,641 Cowan Dec. 10, 1929 1,967,940 Johnson July 24, 1934 2,197,788 Cissell Apr. 23, 1940 2,400,639 Gayring May 21, 1946 2,444,783 Mann et a1. July 6, 1948 

